Back when the Declaration of Independence was written, there was no such category as illegal immigrant. Most founders of the colonies came to the New World without documents of any kind. Fleeing persecution, and seeking economic opportunity, they left their countries of origin for life in a new land, without papers. In writing the Declaration of Independence, they created their own documentation, outside the laws of the British colonies. For the next 122 years, the growth of the United States occurred without a single resident defined as illegal or undocumented, a category that first emerged with the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act. This new distinction was created to single out just one ethnic group -- and then it spread. Since then, the label of illegal or excluded has been applied to groups that at the time were considered marginal -- from Italians and Irishmen to Jews from Eastern Europe. Today, yesterday’s undesirables are considered solidly mainstream. Now this category is applied most often to immigrants from Latin America, Asia or Africa who come here seeking economic opportunity and a shot at the American Dream. Article written by Hirokazu Yoshikawa. Read more: thehill/blogs/congress-blog/education/169251-today-we-are-all-children-of-illegal-immigrants#ixzz37GfG6q1p Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook
Posted on: Sat, 12 Jul 2014 15:12:33 +0000
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